The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (NAU) in Anambra State, Professor Bernard Odoh, whose appointment was nullified by the Federal Ministry of Education on November 1, has reacted to his sack.
Reacting to his removal from office, Odoh argued on Wednesday that the ministry has no power to sack him as vice-chancellor of the university.
NAU, a federal university in the South-eastern state, is popularly known as UNIZIK.
Odoh, had emerged as the seventh substantive vice-chancellor of the university on 29 October but his appointment, recruitment processes and academic profile later became subjects of controversies which angered academic bodies and the federal government.
NEW DAILY PRIME reported on Wednesday that President Bola Tinubu sacked Odoh as the university’s vice-chancellor.
The president also dissolved the university’s Governing Council for “illegally” appointing “an unqualified vice-chancellor without following due process.”
The special adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, announced the developments in a statement on Wednesday.
Also, the director of the Federal Ministry of Education’s press and public relations unit, Boriowo Folasade similarly announced the sacking of the vice-chancellor and the dissolution of the institution’s Governing Council in a separate statement on Wednesday.
Embattled VC reacts
However, reacting in a statement later on Wednesday by his spokesperson, Charles Otu, Professor Odoh argued that the ministry has no power to sack him as vice-chancellor of the university.
Odoh suggested that the president neither authorized his removal nor the dissolution of the governing council.
He said, “Already, the greatest question mark on the integrity of the purported letter is the fact that it never emanated from the President or Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation who issued the council members with appointment letters.
“It was rather strangely endorsed, not by a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, perhaps on behalf of the Honourable Minister, but by a Public Relations Director. This obviously casts strong doubts on the genuineness and intents of the said letter.”
The university don was replying to the press statement from the education ministry even as Mr Onanuga, the special adviser to Tinubu on Information and Strategy, also issued a similar statement.
He claimed that the ministry was engaging in an alleged usurpation of powers, given that only President Tinubu has the power to sack him or dissolve the Governing Council.
He stressed that it was improper for the ministry to accuse the Governing Council of breaching procedures and lawful directives without formally inviting them for questioning regarding the appointment of the vice-chancellor.
He contended that despite a “mountain of evidence,” the ministry had continued to insist that the “council unilaterally appointed” him as the vice-chancellor of the institution.
Odoh also said some lawsuits challenging his emergence as vice-chancellor were still pending at the National Industrial Court in Awka and that the ministry announced his sack even when the court was yet to deliver its judgement.
